A TOP councillor has vowed to protect residents from paying extra bin tax.

Kirklees Council leader, Clr Robert Light, is against Government plans to charge more for waste collection.

The Conservative said: “I believe these proposed charges are completely unacceptable. To increase the financial burden on families already struggling through a Labour-sponsored recession is immoral.

“These charges will be in addition to normal council tax. The overall cost will increase because of the associated costs in levying and enforcing a new tax.

“There will also be harm to the environment through increased fly-tipping and backyard burning from households trying to avoid the tax.”

Clr Light said legislation passed by Parliament late last year allows the Government to impose the tax over the head of councils. He said: “The Government passed laws which received Royal Assent at the end of November allowing them to charge for household rubbish collections. The small print of the legislation allows the Government to impose the taxes on all local authorities without the need for a vote in Parliament.

“While the Conservatives are in control of Kirklees we will do everything we can to ensure the taxes are not implemented here.

“The Government’s own impact assessment suggests that two out of three homes will be liable to pay these taxes. If Labour wins the next general election, families across Kirklees will be hit by this new stealth tax.”

Clr Light has asked other parties in Kirklees to oppose the bin tax at the monthly council meeting on January 21.

He said: “We have submitted a motion to council condemning these schemes and calling for support from other political groups to oppose their imposition.”

But Kirklees Labour leader Clr Mehboob Khan claimed it was the Conservatives who were behind plans for a bin tax.

He said: “The Tory-led Local Government Association (LGA) lobbied the government to give new powers for councils to introduce bin charges. Clr Light, as secretary of the LGA Tory group, has fully endorsed this position.

“The Conservatives are playing fast and loose with the truth and are guilty of scaremongering about the issue of so-called stealth taxes on refuse collection.

“I find it very distrustful of Clr Light to try to scare people, when his party has been involved in lobbying for councils to have powers to levy a bin charge. Some Tory-controlled councils are preparing to levy a charge.”

Clr Khan doesn’t believe bin charges will be introduced in Kirklees. He said: “The Government has no plans to force local authorities to impose any additional charges. Fortunately we have a good recycling record in Kirklees so there is no need for the Tories to consider a bin tax in our borough.”

THE Conservatives say a bin tax could take one of four forms:

Bin bag tax: households pay for special bin bags. Rubbish not put in these bags would not be collected.

Bin size tax: households are charged for the size of their bins, with families needing larger bins having to pay the most.